DHS tennis on track for regionals

Demons fall 6-1 to the powerbouse’ Fruita Monument team

The Durango High School girls tennis team lost 6-1 to a powerhouse Fruita Monument team Saturday, but DHS head coach Dave Weisfeldt said if the Demons play at regionals like they did against the Wildcats this weekend, Were going to be pretty successful.

Weisfeldt said Edwards was getting lots of different looks and had to make adjustments.

Not surprising. Eva-Lou just tried to work on her consistency, Weisfeldt said.

At No. 2 singles, Ellen Southworth got off to a little bit of a shaky start with consistency. She lost 6-2, 6-1 to Meredith Soychak.

Erin Neele had a phenomenal match against Sierra Segrest, losing 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 singles as Neele tried to mix up her play to throw off her opponent.

Erin was really stepping into her shots, Weisfeldt said.

But her opponent was like a mirror image of her. We had to try some different things. (Neele) was looking really consistent, she wasnt making any errors, Weisfeldt said. She didnt double-fault the whole game.

At No. 1 doubles, Gina Gates and Sierra Lillard lost 7-6 with a 7-4 tiebreaker and then 6-2 in the second set to Laren Cyphers and Bronte Hayward.

The No. 2 pair of Jamie Wanzek and Claire Ochsner played one of the longest and most exciting matches of the day. They won 6-2, then lost 6-4 and 6-3 to Jacque Soychak and McKenna Griffiths.

Up and down, topsy-turvy, but great points, Weisfeldt said. They just needed to control a few errors.

The Durango doubles teams at Nos. 3 and 4 struggled against a deep Fruita Monument squad, although they did make big adjustments in the second sets of their matches, Weisfeldt said.

At No. 3 doubles, Kit Hackett and Stephanie Bowles lost 6-1 in the first set against Taylor Poudrier and Shannon Hautzinger before making their adjustments for a much better 6-4 second-set loss.

Thats what we love to see, Weisfeldt said. If you can adapt and adjust, youre going to beat a lot more opponents.

Durangos Anna Wright and Emma Hagen also lost their first set 6-1 to Amanda Charles and Kelsi Barnett before playing a better 6-3 second-set loss.

DHS will play the Class 4A regional tournament Thursday and Friday at Canyon View Park in Grand Junction.